1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to call forwarding services that enable subscribers to forward calls to alternative locations.
2. Acronyms
The written description provided herein contains acronyms which refer to various telecommunications services, components and techniques, as well as features relating to the present invention. Although some of these acronyms are known, use of these acronyms is not strictly standardized in the art. For purposes of the written description herein, the acronyms are defined as follows:                Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)        Anonymous Call Rejection (ACR)        Authentication/Subscription Information (ASI)        Call Processing Record (CPR)        Caller Identification (Caller ID)        Central Office (CO)        Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)        Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF)        Graphical User Interface (GUI)        Generic Data Interface (GDI)        HyperText Mark-Up Language (HTML)        HyperText Transfer Language Protocol (HTTP)        Incoming Call Manager (ICM)        Interactive Voice Response (IVR)        Internet Caller Identification (ICID)        Internet Call Waiting (ICW)        Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)        Line Information Database (LIDB)        Outgoing Call Control (OCC)        Personal Computer (PC)        Personal Call Manager/Personal Communications Manager (PCM)        Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)        Personal Identification Number (PIN)        Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)        Registration Server (RS)        Service Control Point (SCP)        Service Management System (SMS)        Service Node/Intelligent Peripheral (SN/IP)        Service Switching Point (SSP)        Signaling System 7 (SS7)        Signaling Transfer Point (STP)        Terminating Attempt Trigger (TAT)        Time of Day/Day of Week (TOD/DOW)        Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP)        Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)        Uniform Resource Locator (URL)        World Wide Web (WWW)        
3. Background Information
Currently, subscribers to call control services within the public switched telephone network (PSTN) are able to initiate and modify their services by calling a customer service representative or by interacting with an interactive voice response (IVR) system using a standard dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) telephone device. These methods practically limit the number and types of services that can be provided to and modified by the subscribers because all information pertaining to the services is presented audibly. In addition, the potential market for subscribers to call control services is not fully exploited because of customer reluctance to use IVR systems.
There have been attempts to remedy the problems associated with IVR access to PSTN services. These attempts incorporate use of packet switched data networks, such as the Internet, to avoid conventional IVR systems and to streamline the initiation and modification functions. Generally, the PSTN services and related parameters are displayed to the subscriber on a graphical user interface (GUI), which interfaces with the PSTN intelligence through a web server, for example, in the packet switched data network. The current Internet based systems have several drawbacks, however, including the inability to ensure near real-time update of services and incompatibility with existing IVR implementations. Furthermore, often the presentation of the available PSTN services on the GUI is cluttered and confusing, preventing the subscriber from effortlessly creating, implementing and editing the desired service. The subscriber may spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to understand the display and decipher instructions for routinely interfacing with the service. As a result, the subscriber may resort to trial and error implementation of the service, or become altogether discouraged and revert to use of the conventional IVR or live customer service interaction.
For many call control services, subscribers must submit requests to the customer service arm of their provider to initiate new services or update existing ones. The requests are implemented according to the provider's time line and discretion. It is difficult for the users to gauge when the service alteration will take effect. Also, because the current Internet based systems operate exclusively from the conventional IVR systems, i.e., the two systems cannot coexist, customers must select either the Internet interface or the IVR interface. Consequently, a customer who has selected the Internet interface, and who is without a PC and/or Internet access, is not able to make desired changes to his or her services through an IVR. The inability to implement desired changes is especially troublesome considering that users are often interested in altering some call services (e.g., call forwarding, paging, and caller ID) when they are away from their home or business telephone and PC.
An example of call control services provided over a packet switched data network is described in CHANG et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,016, which teaches enabling advanced intelligence network (AIN) services over the World Wide Web (WWW or “the web”) through a provisioning system called the service management system (SMS). A conventional approach to implementing a call management system, including a call forwarding service, is presented in WOOD et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,091,808, which describes a telephone call management network that can be remotely accessed by customers using web browsers over the Internet. One of the call services managed by the system disclosed in WOOD et al. is call forwarding. In WOOD et al. the customer is able to activate and deactivate call forwarding via a web facility. However, there is no provision for accomplishing the same objective alternatively via a PSTN, only using a DTMF telephone.
Another disadvantage of conventional Internet accessible call forwarding systems is incompatibility with IVR access to the same call forwarding account. In other words, if the subscriber elects to have Internet accessible call forwarding, then the service cannot be routinely changed through existing IVR systems. Therefore, subscribers are not able to update the service unless they have immediate access to a PC and modem (or device capable of implementing Internet connections). In order to have both IVR and Internet access to control call forwarding, subscribers would have to open separate accounts, which is inconvenient and potentially difficult for the provider to reconcile, especially where the multiple accounts may send conflicting information regarding calls to be forwarded with respect to the same telephone number.
The present invention overcomes the problems associated with the prior art, as described below.